Syrian Rocket Scientist Reportedly Assassinated By Israel's MossadAziz Asbar, who is said to have worked on Syrian rockets and chemical weapons, was killed over the weekend when his car exploded. The New York Times says he was targeted by Israel.

Syrian Rocket Scientist Reportedly Assassinated By Israel's Mossad

Wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre (SSRC) compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus, in a photo from April.
Louai Beshara/AFP/Getty Images
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Louai Beshara/AFP/Getty Images

Wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre (SSRC) compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus, in a photo from April.

Louai Beshara/AFP/Getty Images

A top Syrian weapons engineer killed over the weekend when a bomb in his car exploded was the victim of a targeted assassination by Israel's spy agency, The New York Times reports.

Aziz Asbar, who the Times describes as "one of Syria's most important rocket scientists," and Israel's Haaretz calls "a senior Syrian chemical weapons scientist" was killed Saturday night in the city of Masyaf in northwestern Syria along with his personal driver. Masyaf is reportedly the location of one of Syria's most important weapons-development facilities.

Initially, Tahrir al-Sham, a Syrian rebel group that includes the former Nusra Front – considered the Syrian branch of al-Qaida – claimed responsibility for the attack, saying online that it had "planted explosive devices" in Asbar's car.

However, citing a senior official from a Middle Eastern intelligence agency, the Times reports that the bomb was actually planted by Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service. The newspaper says it was "at least the fourth assassination mission by Israel in three years against an enemy weapons engineer on foreign soil."

The Times reports that Israel believes "that Mr. Asbar led the secret unit known as Sector 4 at the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center. He was said to have free access to the presidential palace in Damascus and had been collaborating with Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, commander of Iran's Quds Force, and other Iranians to begin production of precision-guided missiles in Syria by retrofitting heavy Syrian SM600 Tishreen rockets," adding that he "was hard at work building an underground weapons factory to replace one destroyed by Israel last year."